As close as two coats of paint
by Dark Gothic Lolita
Summary: Juvia hasn't been in the guild for two months and Natsu wants to find out why. Poor summary, but cute ONESHOT!


Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!

I am pretty much on fire with all of these updates haha. I know that all you're seeing now are oneshots, but don't worry. These are just little stories for you to read while I perfect all my chapters and get my chapter properly edited. Can't be letting you guys reading shoddy work, can I?

But I hope you enjoy this cute little oneshot. I decided to give Reedus a part in this, you know, let others into my stories.

ENJOY!

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 **As close as two coats of paint**

 **Oneshot**

Natsu frowned as he was looking about the guild. There was something different, something very wrong with the scene, but he just didn't know what it was exactly.

"Why do you look constipated?"

Natsu jumped out of his thoughts and glared heavily at his partner who was snickering at his reaction.

"You stupid cat, I do NOT look constipated!"

Lucy smiled a little guiltily. "You kind of do though."

Natsu rolled his eyes at the both of them and stuck his middle finger up at them as he turned his body away slightly. The two of them started laughing at his reaction and he huffed.

Eventually, Lucy calmed down, but she still had a smile on her face. "So what's got you busting a few brain cells there? You seem to be thinking a bit too hard over there.

"Yeah, don't want you to pop the last two."

Happy's comment made the two of then splutter once more and Natsu wanted to do nothing more than bash their heads together, but he stopped himself by clenching his fists. They were lucky that what he was thinking about was important, otherwise he would have had to fight them both.

"Okay, shut it now guys, it's a serious question!" He waited for them to stop and Lucy motioned that she was ready for him to ask his question and see what was wrong.

"I just feel like someone has been missing for a while now. There's a presence that I haven't felt in a while and I...I don't know who it is. You got any ideas?"

Just as Lucy was trying to think about who he might be talking about, Natsu watched as his rival sauntered into the guild and walked up to the job board. As Natsu was staring, he realised that there was no extra presence around him. There was only one person who followed Gray everywhere, worshipped Gray and constantly told him they loved him.

"Oh wait, it's Juvia!"

Natsu couldn't help but notice the way Lucy flinched when he said her name and both Natsu and Happy looked at her questioningly.

"What's happened Luce?"

Oooh, Natsu was being serious now and Lucy wanted to cower away. Natsu was never usually a serious person, so when he was, it was actually quite intimidating.

"While you guys were away doing all those jobs, Juvia tried to confess to Gray again. This time, Gray wasn't having it. While he wasn't rude, he did explode. I guess Juvia finally realised that Gray didn't want her. She tried to stick it out in the guild for about a week, but we saw her less and less. She took a few jobs off the board, but she never came back from the last one. She texted us to say she was fine but we shouldn't wait around for her. We tried going to Fairy Hills, but she wasn't there."

Natsu and Happy looked at one another before looking at Gray. Happy had to hold Natsu back from him launching himself at the ice mage.

"Let go of me Happy, I've got to give a motherfucking ice princess the beating of his life!"

"Lucy help!"

Lucy pulled him back a bit too hard and all three of them fell back into the table. They groaned from the contact, but quickly ignored the pain.

"Natsu, you can't just go and beat him up!"

"I don't like the way he's parading around the place as if it's fine to hurt other nakama's feelings! How can NO ONE know where she is and Gray doesn't seem to care?!"

Lucy shook her head with a sigh. "You weren't here Natsu. While it was harsh of him to shout at her, what he said was his own feelings. It would be worse if he agreed to go out with her when he didn't feel the same for her."

Natsu ripped his arm away from the two of them and glared at the back of Gray's head before turning away. "I guess you're right. Still need to find Juvia though."

Happy and Lucy sighed. Natsu then sniffed the air with wide eyes and looked over at the door. He was slightly confused when he saw Reedus walk into the guild and tilted his head, before realising that the man smelt like Juvia. Natsu got up and dashed over the artist.

"Oh hey Nats-HEY!"

"Just need to talk to ya for a minute!"

Natsu grabbed the man and dragged him out of the guild. Lucy and Happy sweatdropped as they followed their teammate, telling the others that they don't know what had gotten into him. The rest of the guild shrugged and went back to their normal conversations.

"Natsu, why did you grab poor Reedus like that? Just what the hell is your problem all of a sudden." Lucy scolded the dragon slayer and was angry when he didn't even have the decency to look ashamed of his actions.

"Yeah, sorry about that, but I really do need to talk! Why do you smell like Juvia? Is she okay? Where is she?"

Happy glanced at Lucy who was smirking when she looked back at the cat. They both had to put their hands over their mouths to stop the laughter from spilling out. They had the same thing running through their heads.

" _He liiiiikes her!"_

Reedus was still reeling a little bit before nodding his head. "Of course she's fine, why wouldn't she be? Oh, you must be talking about the whole Gray thing. I saw her in the shops trying to buy a whole trolley worth of ice cream, so I stopped her. Told her that the best way to get over heartbreak was to have something that would take her mind off of it, like a hobby. She chose painting and I must say, she is very good at it."

Natsu seemed to sigh in relief, which made Reedus look at him weirdly.

"So why has no one seen her at home, or even in the guild? It's like she dropped off the face of the earthland for the last two months! We can never find her at Fairy Hills."

Reedus turned his attention to attention to Lucy as Natsu let go of his shoulders.

"That's because we've been partners for the last two months. I come in to get the jobs and we go together. I also made her stay with me because I know that her whole apartment is littered with Gray souvenirs, so to save her from going too crazy from seeing all the dolls and pictures, I let her stay at mine till she's ready to go back. She didn't want anyone to know and I've been lucky that you dragon slayers haven't been around to smell me whenever I come in. Until now that is."

The three other mages nodded their heads, understanding immediately. If this was the way Juvia wanted to deal with her heartache, then so be it.

"Do you think she'll be okay if we came to see her?"

Reedus shrugged. "It should be fine. At least Gray's not with you. Anyway, you know where my studio is, Natsu, take Happy and Lucy with you. I'm about to get another job with Juvia."

The now slim artist waved goodbye to them and they waved back as they made their way to Reedus' house.

When they got there, they heard a lot of noise and someone mumbling to themselves. They opened the door to see Juvia pottering about the place. They took in her appearance as she wore an apron on her body, her hair tied back and very casual clothes.

"Hey Reedus, did you find us a job...NATSU, HAPPY AND LUCY?! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?"

Juvia had turned around and was met with three people she hadn't been expecting to see at all. She jumped back in surprise and gave them a sheepish smile when they were looking at her. Lucy smiled softly.

"Everyone's been worried about you. You haven't shown up in almost two months Juvia."

Juvia's eyes almost fell out of her head as she turned towards the calendar. "It's been TWO MONTHS?! Juvia wasn't supposed to be gone for so long! Wow, art really is a good distraction..."

Natsu stepped forward. "Me and Happy just got in from our jobs and I noticed you were missing. Lucy told me everything that happened with Gray."

Juvia didn't even flinch the way she used to before. Instead, she threw a careless shrug which made the other three's jaw drop. It really did do her some good to stay away from the guild even for so long.

"Juvia's over him now. With art, Juvia has been able to express her pain, anger, loneliness, fear, happiness and joy. Juvia did all the stages of heartbreak through art and Juvia is happy that Reedus-sensei saw Juvia buying all those tubs of ice-cream."

Happy tilted his head. "Sensei?"

Juvia nodded happily at the exceed. "Yes! Reedus-sensei taught Juvia everything she knows now about art, but of course Juvia has much to learn. We've also been training together and taking jobs. Reedus-sensei's magic is both beautiful and dangerous. He's a very good partner and it's wonderful how his art comes to life!"

Lucy smiled at Juvia's excited nature and was nothing but happy for the girl to have a true hobby that didn't include making Teru teru bozu, just because she was depressed about the rain. Juvia looked like she was radiating and Lucy couldn't help but come forward and hug her, which surprised the water mage, but she giggled and returned the hug.

"We're just glad that you're okay! Especially Natsu, he was going crazy from the moment he realised you weren't there."

Juvia pulled out of the hug and looked at Natsu who was standing behind Lucy. She grinned at him and Natsu felt a little flustered. Lucy and Happy smirked at each other, watching Natsu's reaction. They knew that Juvia had no idea the effect she had on him. They watched as she walked towards him and the duo tried their best not to make a sound.

"Juvia didn't mean to make Natsu worried. Juvia just felt like it was better that no one really knew where she was. Juvia didn't need emotional comfort, she needed a distraction. Reedus-sensei might not speak about it, but he said that his weight always made him subject to heartbreak. Juvia always felt like she was the only one who never experienced love, but there are truly others out there who have a heart of gold and get rejected. It made Juvia do some thinking."

Natsu nodded and gave her a one armed hug which she gladly returned.

"I'm happy for you Juvia, that exhibitonist doesn't deserve your love. Can I beat him up for you?"

Juvia giggled and shook her head endearingly as she moved out of the hug, but Natsu still kept his arm around her shoulder, which made Lucy and Happy wiggle their eyebrows at each other.

"Juvis is going to say no to that, but she knows Natsu is going to use this as the perfect excuse to throw the first punch, so go right ahead."

Natsu jumped up and down with joy and Happy sighed. "We already had to stop him once today. Lucy and I are definitely not doing that again."

Lucy nodded in agreement. "My back still hurts from falling into the table. Be our guest to start the fight when we're out of the way."

Just then, Reedus came in and Juvia perked up once more. "Reedus-sensei! Do you have a job for us?"

The man nodded and lifted up the flyer. "In fact, I have a job for all five of us. Seeing as Natsu was so worried about you, I thought that the three of them could tag along with us too. By the way, have you shown them some of your artwork? I think they would love to see it."

Juvia blushed and looked down while shuffling her feet. "Juvia is embarrassed to show her work. It won't be good."

Natsu squeezed her shoulder. "I doubt that, let's see what you've been doing!"

Juvia sighed and went over to her cupboard that Reedus had given her to store all of her work. She silently brought out the canvases that she had been painting on and the three guests were silent as they stared in awe at her work. One was the painting of the guild, there was one of Reedus, a self-portrait of herself and even of team Natsu.

"Wow Juvia," Lucy breathed out, as she stared in awe. "These are magnificent. To think that you picked it up in two months!"

The water mage blushed, shaking her head. There was no way she was that good. "It's all thanks to Reedus-sensei. Without him, Juvia would never have been this good."

The man chuckled. "That's what you say, but I can see that you've always had the gift of being artistic. You make your own clothes, you were bound to be good at art as well. Me finding you was just a step to finding out you're good at painting."

"She even drew me eating fish! Natsu, can we go fishing after this job?"

"Sure lil guy. Man, I'm so fired up to be going on a job with Juvia!"

"Eh? Why?"

The water mage was confused as to why he would want to go on a job with her, but she saw a dark glint running through Happy and Lucy's eyes. She didn't even want to know what that sinister look was supposed to mean, so she didn't question it. She could feel a little bit of blood rush to her face, but she didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

"Because that means I can go at my strongest and I won't damage anything because you'll be there! Besides, do you know how strong you are?! The job will be done in a breeze. You're like the Erza of this mission!" His eyes were sparkling and Happy and Lucy instantly knew that there was a second meaning to that.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "You can't fight her, Natsu."

The dragon slayer pouted and Juvia laughed. "No, it's fine Lucy. Juvia will fight him and show him why he should never challenge Juvia again," she replied while winking.

Everyone but Natsu laughed. He just kept staring at Juvia, liking her new change. Not like he didn't like her before, but it was nice to know she was no longer Gray crazy. He welcomed this change. It was doing her some good, definitely.

"Well anyway, the job should only take about a day or so, so I suggest to bring a spare change of clothes in case anything happens. We can meet up in around 30 minutes at the station."

Lucy shook her head. "No need, Reedus. Virgo can bring us clothes from the spirit world. She knows your measurements just by looking at you. That way we don't have to hold any bags."

The man brightened up. "Wonderful! Leaves more room for me to hold my paints! I guess we can go now then!"

They all started leaving and Juvia told them she was going to put her paintings back and change her clothes, but they should go on without her and that she'll catch up. When she came out of the storeroom, she saw that Natsu was still standing there, watching her. She gave him a shy smile as he watched her every move and she made her way towards him by the door.

"Natsu should have gone, Juvia said she will catch up." She didn't quite know why he was waiting for her or why she felt a little flustered around him, but she liked that he cared about her disappearance, seeing as he had been away from the guild for the same amount of time. She was grateful for his care and friendship.

He shook his head. "It's fine, I wanted to walk with you anyway."

He grabbed for her hand before leading her out. Juvia went red as she looked down at their interlocked fingers. She had to admit, she did like the feel of his hands on hers. That being said, she didn't quite understand why he was holding her hand.

"W-why?"

That was the only word that came out of her confused brain. Natsu looked down at her with a grin. There was a look in his eyes that she had never seen before, but she quite liked it. It made her feel wanted.

"Let's just say that one day, I want you to paint a picture of _us_ together."

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So how was that for ya? Was it good, cute, crappy? The name was so hard to come up with until I decided that there must be an idiom discussing paint. Google was my friend with the name of this story.

So why did Juvia take up painting? I feel like the fact that Juvia has been able to make Teru Teru Bozus since she was little shows she has an artistic side. That's what made me slide Reedus in there too, make them interact. The Navia here was limd of subtle, right until the end, just how I want it. I really hope you did like it.

I've also gotten a lot of skeptical reviews on 'it started with a text.' People NEED to read author's notes to understand what authors say about these stories. Also, this is FANFICTION. Of course it's not realistic that they had phones, but my story, my rules. Sayig that, if you're mot sure about the use of phones ever showing up, read chapter 429, you'll see Gray with a phone and then later on, Warren tells them how he made the phones. If you didn't like the idea, write your own Navia fanfic lol.

Rate or hates, flames or floods! Love you guys to the moon and back!

Lolita-love,

Lolita-chan


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